Keyhole-guard and door-lifter.



' PATENTED APR; 7, 1903..

M. s. WELLER. KEYHOLE GUARD AND DOOR LIFTER.

No. 724,635.v

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 24, 1903.

UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

MICHAEL s. WELLER, OF CHARLESTOWN, :WEST VIRGINIA, ss elvon 0E ONE-HALF TO GEORGE B. GOETZ, OF CHARLESTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA.

KEYHOLE-GUAFKD AND DOOR-LIFTER.

sPEoIFwAT'toN forming part or Letters Patent No. 724,635, aateanprir'i', 1903.

' Application filed January 24,1903. Sriallio; 140,425. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL S. WELLER, acitizen of the United States, residing at Oharlestown, in the county of Jefferson, State of West Virginia, have invented" certain new and useful Improvements in Keyhole-Guards and Door-Lifters, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a keyhole-guard and door-lifter for vault-covers, and has for its object to provide a guard-piece lying flush with the upper surface of the door and adapt ed to be lifted and turned to permit access to the keyhole.

Other and further objects andadvantages of the invention will be hereinafter set'forth and the novel features thereof defined by the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective of.a vault-door'having the invention applied thereto; Fig. 2, a vertical section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a detail perspective of the guard and lifter; Fig. 4, a detail perspec tive of a modified form of guardand lifter applied to a door; Fig. 5, an enlarged detail per-. speotive thereof; and Fig. 6 is a plan of the under side of a door, showing the lock and supporting-plate for the guard.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The letter A designates'theframe of a vaultcover, which may be of any desired construction and provided with opposite doors A, hinged at A to the cover, while one of the doors may be provided, if so desired, with a turn-catch A adapted to engage beneath the flange at the sides of the frame, while the free edge of this section may also be provided with a flange A, above which the opposite member of the door will lie. The door or body carrying the lock is provided with any desired form of look, a casing B therein being herein shown as applied to the under surface of the door, so that the keyhole B therein will be beneath an opening A in the door, which opening is provided with an' enlarged portion A to permit a finger-hold upon the guard and lifter C. This guard and lifter may be of any desired configuration-for instance, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, where the under surface at each side is recessed at C to permit the same to be easily grasped, while the downwardlyextending stem 0 thereof ismounted in a against a nut C adjustably carried by the lower portion of the depending stem. The

plate C covers: the aperture in the'door and is providedwith a keyhole in alinement with the lock which lies beneath the plate.

In Fig. 4 a modified form of-this guard and lifter is shown having the plate D, adaptedto cover the keyhole, and the enlarged recess A is filled bya plate'D of circular configuration corresponding to the shape of the recess, while the upper surface of this plate is provided with recessed fingerholds D by which it may be grasped. This form of the invention is also provided with a depending stem D adapted to be surrounded by a spring, as shown in Fig. 2, and with a nut Dtat its lower end to hold this spring under tension.

It will be seen that when it is desired to ob-. 'tain access to the keyhole of the lock the guard and lifter are raised, placing the spring under tension, and then turned to a position at a right angle to that shown in Fig. 1, thus disclosing the keyhole previously protected by the plate. When released in this position, the plate rests uponthe upper aidjacentsurface of the door, so that when it is 'again turned into alinement with the recess in the door above the keyhole of the lock the spring instantly draws the guard back into position, with its upper portion flush-with the door, so that no projections are presented,

while the lock is protected from the entrance of snow, sleet, dirt, or other substances adapted to interfere with or clog the action of the lock. Furthermore, when this plate is lifted into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 it acts as a lifter by which the door may be raised, as the nut or projection at the lower end of the depending stem'bears against the similar part and that changes may be made in the details of construction and configuration thereof without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having described my invention and set forth its merits, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

1. In a device of the class described, abody provided with a lock-casing, and a guardplate for the keyhole of said casing mounted to reciprocate in said body and to oscillate therein; substantially as specified.

2. In a device of the class described, a body provided with a lock-casin g, a guard-plate for the keyhole of said casing mounted to reciprocate in said body and to oscillate therein, a retracting-spring extending from said body, and a projection carried by a depending stem from said plate against which said spring bears; substantially as specified.

3. In a device of the class described, a body portion having an opening therein enlarged at one end,- a lock-casing secured to the under face of said body with the keyhole thereof in alinement with the smaller end of said opening, a guard-plate and lifter having an extension tolie above said keyhole, fingerholds provided upon said guard and lifter, and means for retaining the guard and lifter within the opening in the body and flush with the upper face thereof; substantially as speci- 4. In a device of the class described, a body portion having an opening therein enlarged at one end, a lock-casing secured to the under face of said body with the keyhole thereof in alinement with the smaller end of said opening, a guard-plate and lifter having an extension to lie above said keyhole, fingerholds provided upon said guard and lifter, a supporting-plate for said guard and litter, a tubular sleeve extended from the under face of said plate, a depending stem from said guard and lifter, aspring surrounding said stem and disposed at its upper portion within said tubular sleeve, and an adjustable nut carried by the lower end of said stem to bear against said spring; substantially as specified.

5. In a device of the class described, a body portion having a recess therein with a radial recess at one side thereof, a lock-casing secured to said body with the keyhole thereof beneath said radial recess, a keyhole-guard and lifter disposed within the said recess in the lock-carrying body and extended into said radial recess, means to permit a vertical movement of said guard and lifter, and means to permit a rotary movement thereof when lifted grodm the radial recess; substantially as speci- In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MICHAEL S. WELLER.

Witnesses:

GEORGE M. SLIFER, JAooB F. ENGLE. 

